A study on cyclists' crossing behaviour when interacting with automated vehicles compared to conventional vehicles using virtual reality

Abstract

With the introduction of Automated Vehicles (AVs), new potential traffic situations could emerge on the roads. Although several studies on AVs have been conducted, most of these studies focus on the AV technology or on the driver, while there is less emphasis on how these AVs could interact and communicate with other road users. The interactions of vulnerable road users with AVs versus Conventional Vehicles (CVs) or the amount of trust in AVs versus in CVs, can be different. Due to the high fatality and injury rates and the large number of cyclists in the Netherlands, this research will focus on cyclists. Currently, there is little knowledge about cyclists’ behaviour, interacting with these AVs. The main goal of this study is to investigate whether the crossing behaviour of cyclists differs when interacting with an AV compared to a CV. An experiment in Virtual Reality has been performed to study crossing decisions of participants when interacting with both AVs and CVs. Multiple scenarios were shown to the participants, who could either choose to: ‘continue cycling’, ‘cycle faster’ or ‘slow down’. A mixed model with repeated measures was estimated to identify which variables influence participants’ crossing decisions. The included variables were: vehicle type, gap distance, crossing priority, risk taking, stated trust and the interaction between the vehicle type and stated trust. The results show that there is no significant difference in the crossing decision between the two types of vehicles when the total group of participants is considered. However, when participants are divided into groups based on their stated trust in AVs, significant statistical differences were observed in the crossing behaviour between the two types of vehicles. Participants who have more trust in AVs compared to CVs, crossed more often in front of AVs. The ones who trusted AVs less, choose to slow down more often in front of the AVs. The awareness of the type of vehicle increased their preference based on their stated trust even more and made the differences in the crossing behaviour between the groups bigger. This study shows that cyclists adapt their behaviour when interacting with AVs, based on their amount of trust in AV technology. These findings are important to reminisce for the continuous developing of AV technology. Furthermore, additional research can build upon this study to formulate a policy on AVs. To see how the behaviour of cyclists will evolve in the future, more research about the learning effects of interacting with AVs is necessary.